Sewage Reservoir Floods in Gaza, Killing 5

Published: March 28, 2007

An earthen embankment around a sewage reservoir that was filled to capacity collapsed Tuesday, and officials said it spewed a ''tsunami'' of waste and mud that killed five people and forced residents to flee Umm Naser, a village in the northern Gaza Strip.

One local official blamed the collapse on shoddy infrastructure, and United Nations officials said they had warned of such a catastrophe for more than two years.

Emergency workers traveled among the houses on flat-bottomed boats, and chickens fled their coops to perch high on power lines. The stench of sewage mixed with mud and dead animals caused people to cover their mouths.

Ziad Abu Farya, the leader of the village council, described the scene as ''our tsunami.''

A 2004 United Nations report warned that the sewage plant was at maximum capacity and that flooding was inevitable unless a new waste treatment plant was built. It said the effluent lake was a breeding ground for mosquitoes and waterborne diseases, posing a serious health hazard.

Efforts to build a new waste treatment plant were repeatedly hampered by fighting between Israel and the Palestinians. Stuart Shepherd, of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that since the report was published, international money for a new plant had been secured but construction could not proceed because the area was too dangerous.

Umm Naser is about 300 yards from the border with Israel in an area where Palestinians have frequently launched rockets into Israel, and Israeli artillery and aircraft have fired back.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, blamed the international sanctions imposed on the Palestinians after the Hamas victory in elections in January 2006 for the condition of the infrastructure in Gaza. But Mr. Shepherd said the Umm Naser project had not been affected by the boycott.

Two women in their 70s, two toddlers and a teenage girl died in the sudden flood, and 25 people were injured, said Dr. Muawiya Hassanin of the Palestinian Health Ministry. At least 25 houses were submerged.

Fadel Kawash, director of the Palestinian Water Authority, said the level of sewage in the pool had increased over the last few days, creeping up the earthen embankments around it until one collapsed, ''causing the sewage to pour toward the village.''

Rescue crews and gunmen from Hamas rushed to the area to search for people feared buried. Most residents fled or were evacuated.

Angry residents drove reporters out of the area and mobbed arriving government officials. When Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh arrived to survey the damage, his bodyguards fired in the air to disperse the crowd.

''We lost everything,'' said Amina Afif, 65, whose small shack had been destroyed. ''Everything was covered by the flood. It's a disaster.''

The Israeli Army offered to help clean up. Whether the offer was accepted was not clear.

Photos: Villagers tried to rescue goats from rising floodwaters that injured 25 people and submerged at least 25 houses. (Photo by Mahmud Hams/Agence France-Presse); Palestinians inspected their homes for damage after the earthen embankment around a sewage reservoir filled and collapsed yesterday, flooding Umm Naser, a village in the northern Gaza Strip. (Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images)